Opel to deep-six Cascada in 2019

Oct 10, 2018, 5:18am ETby Ronan Glon

What does the future hold for the Buick Cascada?

Three models will leave the Opel line-up in 2019 as the Peugeot-owned company embarks on a cost-cutting, profit-boosting campaign. Its cars haven't been sold in the United States since the 1970s but the aftermath of the cuts could be felt on our side of the pond.

In a rare move, the German company cut to the chase and openly announced plans to deep-six the Adam, the Cascada (pictured), and the Karl before the end of 2019. The Fiat 500-fighting Adam (pictured) and the Cascada are near the end of their life cycle, they went on sale in 2012 and 2013, respectively, but the entry-level Karl is merely three-years old.

General Motors never gave one of its American divisions a version of the Adam despite repeated pleas from former CEO Dan Akerson, but Buick has sold its own version of the Cascada since 2015. Now that the Opel variant is retiring, it's unclear what the future holds for the Buick version.

"The Cascada continues to brings in a higher percentage of new customers to Buick than any other model and has been an important part of establishing today's Buick. We don't comment on future plans for our vehicles," a company spokesperson told Leftlane via email.

The Karl is sold as the Chevrolet Spark in the United States. Similarly, we don't know what the future holds for it after its German sibling takes a bow. It's made by General Motors in South Korea, not by Opel, so it could live on. An earlier report claims the Sonic will get the guillotine after 2020 in response to the market's shift towards crossovers but it makes no mention of the Spark.